Film splicing device



March 16, 1954 R. c o s ET AL 2,672,180

FILM SPLICING DEVICE Filed Jan. 29, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig IINVENTORS 341.1%! M. NICHOLS AND CHARLES D. (OWAN Mmmw ATTORNEYS March16, 1954 R. M. NICHOLS ET AL 2,672,180

FILM SPLICING DEVICE Fil'ed Jan. 29, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 RALPH M.MIC/I018 AND f .CHARLES D. (an 4 fiwzww 12.8w

ATTORNEYS M. NICHOLS ET AL FILM SPLICING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 7-!-Fig '7 JNVENTORS P IVA RAL M. HOLS A/vo y (HA 8 all/AN ATTORNEY? March16, 1954 Filed Jan. 29, 1951 Fig-6' March 16, 1954 R NICHOLS ET AL2,672,180

FILM SPLICING DEVICE Filed Jan. 29, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 17, 9 Pi r. 10

INVENTORS RAMP/l I". NICHOLS ll/YD BY CHARLES D. COWAN device. Since thePatented Mar. 16, 1954 FILM SPLICIN G fiEVICE Ralph M. Nichols andCharles D.

Cowan, Green ville, S. 0., assignors to Bob Jones University, acorporation of Tennessee Application January 29, 1951, Serial No.208,294 4 Claims. (C1, 154--421) This invention relates to a filmsplicer and particularly to one adapted for splicing magnetic In makingmotion pictures, the sound is initially recorded on a strip of magnetictape for subfilm at numerous points. With magnetic film, the

commonly used overlapping splice or a squarecut abutting splice willcause a break in the magnetized portion of the film and produce anundesirable noise when it passes across the pickup sound carryingportion of the film is several millimeters in widtth, a diagonal splicewith abutting edges will pass over the pickup device without producing abreak in the connection and will go unnoticed. However, no one has yetdevised a satisfactory film splicing device for making a diagonal cutacross a film and good hand-made splices are extremely difficult tomake.

In addition to the undesirable noise produced at the point of splice, aconventional film splicer is constructed of magnetic metal and producesan undesirable transfer of sound from one point on the film to another.This is due to magnetization of the metal at the point of contact withthe magnetic film. When another portion of film isbrought into contactwith the magnetized metal, there is a transfer of the sound from themetal to the film at the point of contact.

In accordance with the present invention, there is now provided a devicefor use in splicing magnetic film with means for making a uniformdiagonal cut across the ends of the film to be joined, whereby a perfectabutting fit is'made possible. In addition, the present inventionprovides support and cutting and taping members of nonmagnetic material,so that the only magnetic parts that touch the film are two very smallshear blades, having such a small area of contact with the film thattransfer of sound thereby is extremely unlikely. The present inventionalso provides a means for attaching adhesive tape directly to theabutting edges of the film being spliced and means for trimming theedges and forming register holes in the tape without pro ducing anycontactwith magnetic metal. The present invention will be explainedhereafter in greater detail in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Fig; 1 is a perspectiveview of the film splicing device inventionincludes- Fig. 2 is an elevation of a portion of the device, showing thetape dispensing and trimming mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of Fig. 1 with parts broken away;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the film support;

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the device shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken generally along the line s -s 01". Fig.5 and showing the film shearing device in section;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken generally along the line 'l--! of Fig.5 and showing the trimming and punching device in section;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken generally along the line 8-8 of Fig.3-;

Fig. 9 a plan view of the film shearing mechanism talren generally alongthe line 9*! of 5; and

Fig. 10 is a plan view of the trimming and punching device takengenerally along the line ill-4.6 of Fig. 5.

Referring now to the drawings and in particular' at first to Fig; 1,the" device of the present a base l4 and a film support of non-magneticmetal, shown generally at l6. This film support includes a fixed portionI0 and a d'epressable portion 20, the inner adjacent edges of which havea generally diagonal configuration, as shown at 22. Register pins 2- 2are provided on support it for positioning the film thereon, as will bediscussed in greater detail later.

Pivotally mounted onbase- 14; adjacent film support it is a first lever26 to the free end of which is attached by convenient means, suchasscrews 28 (see Fig. 6), a head member 30, which carries forreciprocation therein a piston 32, at the lower end of which is a bladecarrying member 34 adapted to" engage depressable member 2-0 when astrip of film isbeing'severed. Head-member 32 is yieldingly urgedupwardly with-in head member 39' by means of spring 36. Slidabl-ydisposed inan appropriate eccentric recess within piston 3-2- is asecond piston 36 which is yieldingly urged downwardly by meansof spring40.. Piston 38 supports at its lower end a film holding small means forremoving the is provided. The small channels 80 may conat a singleoutlet.

which may occur when swung into an operative position, it brings bladecarrying member 34 and film holding member 42 into contact with the film48 resting on film support 16. This brings shearing blade 58 on bladecarrying member 34 into operative engagement with ledger blade 52, whichis carried at the inner end of fixed member I8. These blades are soformed as to make a diagonal cut across the magnetic portion at themiddle of film 48. Pressure on the upper end of piston 32 producesdownward reciprocation of the blade carrying member 34 which displacesdepressable member downwardly. At the same time, film holding member 42is displaced upwardly in relation to piston 32 by fixed member iii offilm support [6. This brings shearing blade 50 into operative engagementwith ledger blade 52 and severs the film.

When head member 38 is raised, depressable member 20 is returned to itsnormally raised position on guide 54 by means of spring 56. With abroken strip of film, the ends to be joined can be overlapped at theblades and both ends severed at once to produce a perfect fit for thedesired abutting splice.

The severed ends of film 48 are transferred to a position beneath diemember 58 which is carried for reciprocation in die support 58, which inturn is supported at the free end of a second lever 62 pivotally mountedon base 14. Die support 68 is secured to second lever 62 by means ofappropriate screws 84 (Fig. 2). To join the severed ends, an appropriatelength of tape '10 is withdrawn and is laid across the abuttin 1 endswhich are maintained in fixed relationship by means of register pins 38,which project upwardly from film support l6. Die member 58 is thenlowered into engagement with the film 48 and downward reciprocation ofdie member 58 moves lateral shearing blades tive engagement with lateralledger blades 14 to sever the tape 10 at the edge of the film andsimultaneously trim the overhanging portion of tape at the edge of thefilm 48. At the same time, punches 16, which register with appropriatedies 18 in film support I6, perforate the tape at the registrationholes. Dies '58 open into channels 80 extending downwardly throughsupport member l6, whereby convenient trimmings from the tape verge intoa larger channel 82, to provide a convenient means of accumulating thetrimmings Die member 58 is normally urged yieldingly upwardly in diesupport 58 by means of a spring 84.

In order to prevent undesirable transfer of sound from one portion ofthe film to another, different portions of a magnetic film come incontact with a magnetized body, all parts of the present device thatcome in contact with the magnetized portion at the middle of the filmare, where possible, of nonmagnetic metal, such as aluminum, bronge,etc. However, the shearing and ledger blades 50 and 52, the lateralshearing blades 12, lateral ledger blades 14 and the punches 16, arepreferably formed of high grade steel so that the cutting edges can bemaintained sharp. Since the magnetized portion of the film runslongitudinally along the center portion, it is seen that the only pointat which magnetic metal comes in contact with the magnetized portion ofthe film is at the shearing blade 58 and ledger blade 52 when a cut ismade. The shearing edges are 12 into opera- 5. extremely thin and sincethe splices are made between words and sound, if at all possible, it isseen that the present device would offer very little opportunity for thetransfer of sound from one portion of the film to another.

The film support It may be fixed to base 14 by means of screws 86 (Fig.3), and the cut ends of the film can be cut at one location and moved toanother for taping and trimming. However, the film support Hi can beprovided with a slideway so that the support itself is moved from oneposition to the other without removing the tape.

Through the use of the device of the present invention, it is nowpossible to splice a magnetized sound film quickly and accurately, sothat no undesirable interference noises are introduced onto the film.

We claim:

1. A film splicer comprising a base, a film slideway across said base, aledger blade mounted in said slideway diagonally thereof, a depressablemember forming a portion of said film slideway adjacent said ledgerblade, a shearing arm pivotally mounted on said base adjacent saidslideway, a fixed blade carrying member mounted on said arm, a shearingblade mounted therein and adapted to be moved by rotation of said arm tooperative position with respect to said ledger blade, said fixed bladecarrying member being adapted to displace said depressable member andbring said blades into shearing engagement, register pins on saidslideway to position the film to prevent lateral movement during theshearing, a film holding member yieldingly mounted on said arm adjacentsaid blade carrying member and adapted to engage said film slideway atsaid ledger blade to hold the film in position during shearing, a tapecarrying arm pivotally mounted on said base parallel with said shearingarm, stationary lateral shearing edges on said slideway beneath saidtape carrying arm, movable lateral shearing blades mounted on the freeend of said tape carrying arm and adapted to cooperate with said mountedlateral shearing edges to trim the tape at the edges of said splicedfilm, punching dies mounted on said tape carrying arm adjacent andmovable with said lateral shearing blades adapted to form register holesin the tape at the splice.

2. A film splicing device comprising a base, film support thereon,register pins on said support for positioning a film to be spliced, adepressable member forming a portion of said film support, a firstledger blade mounted diagonally across said support adjacent saiddepressable member, a first lever pivotally mounted on said baseadjacent said support, a shearing blade carried at the free end of saidlever for shearing engagement with said ledger blade, a film clampingmember yieldingly carried by said lever in side by side relation withsaid shearing blade and adapted to engage the film adjacent said ledgerblade during shearing of said film, a pair of lateral ledger bladesdisplaced from said first ledger blade opposing edge portions of saidfilm support, a second lever pivotally mounted on said base adjacentsaid film support, a die member carried by said second lever forreciprocating movement with respect thereto, said die member including apair of lateral shearing blades for registration with said lateralledger blades for trimming the edges of a strip of film disposed on saidsupport and a plurality of punches for forming registration holes insaid film, and support means on said second lever for carrying anddispensing adhesive tape across said film at said lateral shearingblades to join the severed ends.

3. A device for splicing magnetic sound film comprising a base, a filmsupport of non-magnetic material across said base having a fixed portionand a depressable portion, a plurality of pins projecting upwardly ofsaid support for reglstration with the holes in a strip of film, aledger blade extending diagonally across the inner end of the fixedportion of said film support adjacent said depressable portion, a levermounted on said base for swinging engagement with said film support atsaid ledger blade, a movable blade supporting member carried at the freeend of said lever, a shearing blade mounted thereon, said bladesupporting member being adapted to displace said depressable member andbring said shearing blade into operative engagement with said ledgerblade, a film holding member carried at the free end of said leveradjacent said blade supporting member for reciprocating movement withrespect thereto and for engagement with the fixed portion of said filmsupporting surface, a pair of lateral edge trimming blades disposed on,opposing edge portions of the fixed portion of said film supportingmember, a second lever pivotally mounted for swinging movement to saidfilm supporting member at said edge trimming blades, means mounted onthe free end of said lever for dispensing adhesive tape to the film onsaid film support, a die of non-magnetic metal supported thereon forreciprocating movement, said die including at its end a pair of shearingblades for engagement with said lateral blades, and a plurality ofpunches, said lateral blades and punches being adapted to trim andperforate the tape placed across the abutting edges of said film forforming the splice.

4. A film splicer comprising a base, a nonmagnetic film support thereon,said support having a fixed member and an abutting depressable member,said members having their abutting ends diagonally cut, a ledger bladeaiiixed to the inner end of said fixed member diagonally across saidsupport, a lever pivotally mounted for swinging movement to said filmsupport at said ledger blade, a shearing blade mounted on said lever,means for reciprocating said shearing blade to bring it into operativeengagement with said ledger blade, means for holding a strip of film inplace during shearing, lateral ledger blades secured to edge portions ofsaid film support, a second lever pivotally mounted on said base forswinging to said film support at said lateral ledger blades, lateralshearing blades mounted on said second lever, means for reciprocatingsaid lateral shearing blades to bring them into operative engagementwith said lateral ledger blades, means mounted on said second lever fordispensing adhesive tape across said film support, at said lateralledger blades and means mounted on said second lever for formingregister holes in the tape placed on said film.

RALPH M. NICHOLS.

CHARLES D. COWAN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,121,765 Schultze Dec. 22, 1914 2,346,874 Russell Apr. 18,1944 2,446,576 De Vry Aug. 10, 1948 2,499,686 Selmin Mar. 7, 19502,539,611 Daniel et a1 Jan. 30, 951 2,565,009 Wallingsford Aug. 21, 1951

